After a week in Morocco, I have had the pleasure of visiting the coast of Rabat twice. Living in the neighbourhood of L’Ocean means the ocean is just a stones throw away from my host family’s apartment.
The initial outing to “the beach” in Rabat did not lead us to the beach but rather a scenic walk along the coast. Where we were expecting to find sandy beaches we found red rock cliffs and crashing waves. Despite the cloud cover and impending rain, the walk made for a lovely evening.

The most intriguing aspect of this outing was not the spectacular scenery but rather the people watching it facilitated. Spotted periodically sitting away from the sidewalk were couples who appeared to be what we would consider “millennials” on dates. Our lectures before departure to Morocco informed us that dating was certainly an aspect of Moroccan life; however, it was generally done in a clandestine manner. This made it particularly interesting for me to witness this aspect of culture.
Our second visit to the Rabat beach, this time in sunshine and accompanied by our host sister, lead to the discovery of significantly more sand than previously believed to exist. Equipped with an excellent tour guide and fortunate enough to arrive at a lower tide, we found fascinating rock formations which held standing pools of water. These now exposed rocks also provided excellent perches for chatting couples. The lovely weather accompanying our second visit also brought out more locals to the coast. The beaches evidently are considered an appropriate place for exercise as numerous men and a woman were spotted jogging along the coast line and playing pick up soccer on the sand. Indaviduls walked their beautiful well groomed huskies.
Evidently the beach serves as an appropriate location for the less common aspects of Moroccan life.